ERA 09-46 Games of Death
The Games of Death was an ill-fated sporting event that occurred in September ERA 09-46 in Kilton, the capital of the Barbine Republic. It was the first and only time that the Great Empire and the United Federal Republics participated in the Transcontinental Games, a competition between international athletes hosted in Barb every two years. Despite extensive preemptive measures put in place to expressly prevent conflict, severe contempt between the participants quickly turned the peacefully-intentioned games into a violent disaster, with casualties sustained across all the national teams. The month-long event was postponed after only six days, with the survivors sent back to their respective countries. Background In ancient Barb, it was tradition to hold a national sporting event after the year's harvest was taken in, where the often warring rival factions of the region would put aside their differences to participate in peaceful competition. As the Republic of Barb became more active on the world stage, the concept was revived in ERA 09-10 to include modern sports, and athletes around the world were invited to represent their countries. For most of the new games' history only the independent nations of Zicia, Wollus, Causeway, North and South Robbiya, as well as the fledgling superpower of Heartland joined in, whilst the two major powers of the continent, the Great Empire and the United Federal Republics, shunned the games for one reason or another. The Imperial people failed to grasp the notion of international competition as they presumed the results would be doctored in favour of the geographically closer UF. The United Republics' themselves refused to participate due to intense animosity between them and the member nation of Heartland, who had recently successfully expelled the UF occupiers and gained independence for themselves in the War of the Century. In the ERA 09-40s, the UF was quite visibly building up its army for a large-scale offensive. In a bid to settle tensions, Barb began a concerted diplomatic effort to recruit the UF into the peaceful international tournament. In the interest of fairness, the Great Empire was also invited. The organisers were shocked to find both invitees had accepted. The UF decided that participating in the games would draw attention away from its army raising, dispelling international fears of invasion while hopefully impressing the world with its sporting prowess. On hearing the news, the highly suspicious Great Empire immediately threw their own hat into the ring, citing a need to keep tabs on their foes. The stage was therefore set for conflict. Course of Events Day Five The shooting event, scheduled for the afternoon of the fifth day, was an unparalleled disaster, and believed to be the spark that ignited the powder keg the following day. Despite being expressly warned by the organisers that the single-man event was to be held using Barbine-provided single shot sporting rifles, most of the three nation's teams arrived in their entirety at the match location, heavily armed with military-grade hardware smuggled into the country. While some attest it was purely for security against the other competitors, most saw the event as an opportunity to ignore the rules to show off their respective country's technological prowess, with competitors toting magnified optics, full-auto capabilities, incendiary bullets and grenade-launching adaptors. It was only realised after the participants started to arrive for the event that the security arrangements were woefully inadequate. The tournament guards, equipped with revolvers and batons, were completely outmatched by the scores of expert marksmen and their entourage, all armed to the teeth. Despite some efforts at disarmament, stadium officials said they felt threatened and thus kept their distance in the hopes of defusing the situation. This meant that some competitors arrived at the wrong waiting locations before the event. Some found themselves in empty rooms and became paranoid. Others wandered into the changing rooms of their rivals, resulting in a tense standoff. Members of the Republic's even team started to filter through into the spectator seating and judges area, causing some to flee and further heightening tensions. At 13:00, the first competitor of the Causewegian team, Tisi L'Erreur took his place in starting area for the double trap shooting event. At the same time, spectators hurriedly vacating the stadium via a set of stairs to the left of the field tripped up the rifle-laden Imperial team's Nolan Deere, separated from his entourage during a bathroom break, who tumbled into the similarly armed Republic team's Eire Foulke seated in the second row. The two immediately came to blows, with stray punches connecting with surrounding spectators, starting a brawl. Even as spectators spilled out onto the field in panic, stadium security stood by doing nothing, fearful of a gun battle erupting. Seeing this inaction and becoming impatient to compete, L'Erreur loaded his shotgun and, in an apparent attempt to disperse the crowd, discharged it into the air. The events immediately after the scheduled 13:00 start are highly disputed. Both the Republic and Imperial teams allege that L'Erreur fired directly into the crowd, injuring many. At least one surviving stadium rep says a spectator was wounded by a piece of buckshot falling back to earth, giving the impression he or she was directly fired on. Others state that it was simply the act of discharging a firearm during the a very tense situation that was the catalyst. Nevertheless, these disputed events preceded a prolonged and bloody firefight involving all national teams, stadium security, and spectators. The Heartlandian team were lost in the lower areas of the stadium when the shooting started. Finding a dead end and knowing they had passed a group of heavily armed Imperials on the way, they realised they were trapped. In response, the coach divided the team into a number of human waves, hoping to charge and overwhelm the opposition through attrition. The first wave surged back the way they came but quickly became lost. Doubling back, they were mistakenly fired on by the second wave, causing a brief but deadly melee. Those remaining in the second wave subsequently fell back and were shot at by the coach for disobeying orders. In the end, despite poor leadership and high casualties, the survivors managed to carry their injured teammates to the surface in relative safety. In the field area, the Republic team members positioned all around the grandstands opened up with withering fire from fully-automatic intermediate calibre rifles. Their commanding position allowed them to take control of the field area, shooting at rival competitors, fleeing spectators and emergency responders alike, but quickly ran low on ammunition. After the man they sent for more ammo did not return, those in the stands left the stadium and subsequently sealed themselves inside their team's retreat. Their only other casualty, Eire Foulke, had been incapacitated in a stampede following the initial brawl. He reportedly committed suicide by cyanide capsule in protest of having to share an ambulance with the wounded Heartlandians. Most of the Causewegian team survived, having unanimously chosen to lay down their arms. L'Erreur was taken as a human shield by the Republic team during their flight from the stadium, but was abandoned due to lack of room in the taxi they commandeered. When he attempted to flag down another using a pistol, he was shot dead by a policeman. Aftermath *The two adversarial nations of the Robbiyan region, the northern New Robbiyan State and the Southern Independent State, were both long time participants in the games, and in the spirit of the event, generally ignored their domestic grievances in the interest of friendly competition. During the shooting event, it is believed that competitors from either nation shielded each other from attack, with some cooperating to barricade themselves in the South Robbiyan locker room. This is only speculation from investigating authorities however, as they were all killed in the event. *Wollus' team, on the first day after arriving, disappeared in its entirety. The nation's 38 athletes, coaches and VIPs were never heard from again, save for the team's long distance runner, who reported undergoing extraordinary rendition to the Arctikan province of Heartland before escaping and travelling on-foot back to his home country over a period of three years. He was later captured and identified as an escapee after Heartland took over the country in ERA 09-52, and was subsequently deported back to Arctika. *Mishandling of the event was cited amongst the justifications for both the Great Empire and the Republic's violation of Barb's territory during the Global Conflict. Category:Conflicts